Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqi Oilfields

March 2001, before the domestic terrorism, before Iraq was engrained in the national conscious, before the terms “pre-emptive invasion” and “shock and awe” were a part of the American lexicon, Vice President Dick Cheney and a team of energy executives were determining the state of Iraq’s primary resource and what foreign corporations would need to be appeased in order for US control of them. “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.”, an innocuos enough term included foreign companies that had current or future contracts with the Iraq regime. These two lists (p1, p2 [pdf]) of foreign contractors is eerily similar to those countries that are part of the “Coalition of the Willing”.

The papers, which were requested by Judicial Watch in April 2001 under the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act), had to be fought over in court and have only recently been released. For those who have claimed that the Iraq War was really about oil, this may not be the smoking gun, but it’s as close as it comes for now.